Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The territory of the Bhawaiya folk song is North Bengal, Coochbehar, and Assam - also covering much of the Rangpuri-dialect-speaking areas of northern Bangladesh. Some say Bhawaiya is derived from "bhava" - emotion. Others think the term originated from the word "bhabaiya" - that which inspires contemplation. Certainly the themes of this genre are contemplation, love, and loss. The lyrics below are traditional - dated sometime between the 17th and 19th centuries, now resurrected in a MTV sherwani. (Disregard the mishmash of overlaid new-age Punjabi lyrics, which bear no relation to the original.)